Las Vegas Housing Market: Foreclosures Down, Sales Up

Happy days are here again for home buyers. SalesTraq has just rolled out its latest data analysis of the Las Vegas real estate market and its great news if you are thinking about buying a home. Bottom line: home prices are now at levels not seen in the Las Vegas valley since 1998! There is one caveat. Real estate is still very much locally driven and areas that haven’t had a lot of repossessions also don’t have the large prices drop either.

Not everyone will be happy with the news (read investors, home owners that need to sell) but overall its good news for Las Vegas. Low home prices were one of the main attractions the valley held for people moving here from other states, especially from California. Over the last few years home prices had skyrocketed, preventing a lot of valley residents from the dream of home ownership.

According to the SalesTraq report, the median price of existing homes dropped to $125,000 in April. That’s a 57% drop since the price peak in June of 2006. In April of 2008 the average price per square foot was $135.73. That has dropped 42% down to $78.58.

Home sales are also up. April saw the largest number of home sales since June of 2006. 4,063 existing homes were sold, an increase of 437 from the prior month and just shy of the 4,198 sold in June of 2006. Compared to April of last year, that is an increase of 78 percent. Of the homes sold in April, 62% were bank owned (foreclosures). The median price of REO homes sold was $115,000, $30,000 less than non-bank owned properties according to SalesTraq.

So not surprisingly foreclosures are statistically the best bargains and count for a significant number of sales. The report also shows that April had the fewest number of foreclosures (1,289) in the last 16 months. This is third consecutive month that number of homes going into foreclosure has dropped and the second month where sales have exceeded home repossessions.

According to SalesTraq, the current inventory of existing home is 16,202, the lowest since April 2006 and roughly down 4,400 from January of this year. While this could be a sign of recovery for the market, many experts expect another surge of repossessions later in the year, despite the new government programs. Another factor fueling home sales is the First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit. That program expires on December 1st later this year and will undoubtedly affect sales.

Comments

But things aren’t looking this good nationwide – here is Sarasota, Florida, we had 1,286 foreclosure filings last month, up 20 percent from October, and 16 percent higher than in November 2008. One out of every 171 households received a foreclosure action last month… I feel sorry for those who have lost their homes.

Now is the time for savvy investors to buy property. With such a huge inventory on the market and prices so low, anyone thinking about waiting until next year to buy a property is making a big mistake.

"According to the SalesTraq report, the median price of existing homes dropped to $125,000 in April. That’s a 57% drop since the price peak in June of 2006. In April of 2008 the average price per square foot was $135.73. That has dropped 42% down to $78.58."

Can I say, "Wow!" That is good for investors and people wanting to own a home, but bad for home owners who are now upside down. The impact of the struggling economy has not been nearly so severe in Austin, but some are still getting crunched here.

Thankfully we didn't see the volume of foreclosures here in Montana. The real estate market has been affected, but nothing like other areas of the country. They say that will still see more foreclosures for the next six to nine months. I'm sure the economy has a lot to do with that. Hopefully this time the experts are wrong.

That's quite a drop in median price. Guess that will be good news for people who want to find affordable housing in other parts of the country. Prices like that will be the driving force for sales and hopefully a recovery.
kk